PLANTING UPDATE #3

After the long weekend, visits from family and friends, bouts of rain, storms, sweltering heat and today sustained winds that blew us out of the garden, we can happily say we have six rows left to plant of tomatoes.  Young peppers we are trying to harden had to spend the day inside to survive the wind.  The veg are growing.  Slowly.  But growing.  The remainder of this week should help a lot as warmth is forecast and less rain.

There is some color scattered around the farm from the few perennials we have and this wonderful bleeding heart near the house, that was well protected from the battering west wind we had today, was able to supply this splash of pink for the blog.

We would like to thank everyone who made the trip out to help, hang out, or just be!  Moral support is always welcome!

PLANTING UPDATE #2

Rain again late yesterday afternoon.  There are now 15 tomatoes in the ground, 582 to go - hint, hint.  Today we are going to push hard to get more in, the sun just snuck a ray through the clouds....oopppsss it is gone again.  Tomorrow is going to be miserable with 88 degrees predicted and winds out of the southeast at 15 to 25 mph.  Nice.

NYAGOUS - A new 'black' tomato for 2011

So off to work we go, but first we are making  CUSTARD RHUBARB CRISP and BLACK BEAN HUMMUS for the help.

PLANTING UPDATE

For anyone anticipating planting today, Saturday - May 28 - we won't start until after 1:00 today.  There was just enough rain yesterday and last night to make moving around just a bit wet!

Thanks!

MEN AT WORK

We LOVE our guys!!!  Thank you to Evan, Anthony, Nick, and of course my awesome husband, Michael.  One day and look what motivated men can do.  Of course behind every motivated man is a woman with a whip!

Nick. Nuff said.  You can see what his job was.

Evan and Anthony supervising!  No Really!!  They DID work as hard as Nick.  See all those sandbags and plastic mulch.  That was their job. 

Michael was the general on the job.  He made sure everything was straight, helped set the end posts, and cooked the brats for lunch!

  There are four more rows to go if anyone is interested in repeating the process!

At the end of the day even Amber was tired!  I think from keeping all 'her' company lined out.  Nick brought along Maddy, the regal great dane, and Charlie, the fast husky.  Then of course Daisy Mae is always work for Amber to keep in line.

Thank you SO much for taking time from your busy schedules and helping on the farm!!!  We truly appreciate your efforts.

CUSTARD RHUBARB CRISP

Ahhhh what to do with rhubarb. 

I stumbled on this recipe from cooks.com when searching for something to feed a crew of hungry, working men!  Modified it of course and here it is.

CUSTARD RHUBARB CRISP

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 c organic cream
1 1/2 c sugar (we used 1 1/2 c honey)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp organic vanilla
4 T flour (we used oat flour and heaped the tablespoons to help compensate for the honey)
4 c cut rhubarb (we diced the rhubarb)

CRISP TOPPING
1/2 c organic brown sugar
1/2 c organic oat flour
1/2 c oatmeal (quick cooking works best)
1/2 c organic butter (melted or softened)

Combine all the ingredients for the base and place in an 8x8 greased pan.  Combine all the ingredients for the topping and crumble over the rhubarb mixture.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Oh and serve it warm with Breyer's Natural Vanilla Ice Cream and organic coffee!!!!  I can smell the crisp now! Enjoy!

RECENT HISTORY

I was reminded that I am behind on blogging.  I guess that's mostly because we are also behind outside.  The late spring, rainy weather, and increased dirt space all equal long days.  So to catch up on some blogging chores before heading outside for the day we are going to give a little history from the last few weeks.

2010 Peppers and Tomatoes.

All was going well until the end of April. Seeds were started, growing, looking awesome.  Especially the tomatoes.  We had them moved to our south facing porch with natural light.  The same as last year.  We hang grid from the ceiling, slide 2x2 cedar boards between the grid, and place the flats (which hold 18 plants each) on the boards.  The first round of tomatoes were proudly stretching upward.  756 of them actually.  42 flats.


It was Friday morning, April 29, and I was done watering and fertilizing.  Everything was taken care of for us to be gone for the weekend.  We were moving two of our horses out to South Dakota and had friends coming into the house to check on the plants.  In addition, that afternoon, we were going to St. Paul to set up for the St. Paul Art Crawl.   At 11:00 am I was running upstairs to take a shower when I heard a sickening sound.  The sound of glass breaking and other loud noises.  I stood on the stairs contemplating WHAT it could be and when the realization hit my brain I just stood there.  Frozen.  Heart beating fast.  Brain racing.  One slow step at a time I headed toward the porch.

Yep, shit happens!  Phone call to Michael - it wasn't pretty.  To finish the story quickly, we did go to the St. Paul Art Crawl.  We did make it to South Dakota.  We do have about 600 tomato plants!  Between the phone call to Michael and 3 pm that afternoon - we won't talk about.

THEN on May 4th we rented the tractor and tiller to add another field to our ever expanding gardens.  Michael at the helm, Theresa and I marking his way, the process is going super fast!  Yea!  We have it figured out after all this time!!!  But wait - that pile of last year's plastic mulch!  Ooopppssss!!!! 

Two hours later.  Done!  Again we won't talk about what happened in between!

FINALLY, two weeks ago we had set outside to harden our Eggplant and Kohlrabi.  Only three flats, but these had 50 in each flat!  One of those windy days Minnesota is known for.  Yep, took all three flats.  The new Eggplant is going to be about a month behind and we direct seeded the Kohlrabi.

Bumps in the road, water under the bridge, whatever you want to call life's experiences - life is still good!!!! 

IT'S ALMOST TOMATO TIME!

In about twelve more days the push is on to plant 500 tomatoes and 500 peppers!  That said, ANY help we can generate between May 25 and May 31 will be highly appreciated and rewarded! 

There will be plenty to do besides dig in the dirt!

Carry plants, run for supplies, feed the crew, have fun, help clean up, dig the hole, feed the tomato, water the tomato -- definitely no boredom!

At the end of the day this what the field will look like!

So any time you can spare please give me a shout at 651.388.6378 or shoot an email to solntyne@yahoo.com.  Remember between May 25 and May 31!!!



CUT, ROLL, STAKE, BURY

Takes a team and several steps to lay mulch for the tomato field.  On a nice, warm, calm day it's a fun activity.  Especially with three girls, four dogs, four adults, and three horses!

First Tona cuts the staples from #9 wire and Ellie runs it to the field (Ellie doesn't really run them to the field one by one - but it looks like it. hehe).

Irrigation tape goes in the row first and then plastic mulch is pulled over the row.  (Alberto is using Michael's newest invention to roll out the plastic mulch.)

Then the mulch is "stapled" to the ground with the #9 wire.

The last step, which is the key to keep the mulch from becoming airborne, is to bury the sides of the mulch.  This is the hardest and most time consuming portion of the entire process.  The staples will keep the mulch in place as long as the wind doesn't blow!  hahaha  Unfortunately, that step didn't get done on Saturday. Consequently, with 30 mph wind gusts out of the east - mulch is laying helter, skelter in the rows!

  Ahhhh farming on the small scale - lots of work done by hand!!!!  All part of it!

STRAWBERRIES

The saying goes "If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride."  Well I'd be wishing it were next year this time so we could taste our first SOL 'N TYNE strawberries!!! 

Strawberries and kids what better combination!

BEHIND AND GROWING

Two weeks at least - behind - the trees, the soil, the flowers, the garden.  But that's part of life, part of farming, and the nature of dealing with something bigger and more powerful and more controlling than we humans can ever be.  Thus we learn to step back and respect what each day brings us.  All the planning and lists and schedules get crossed out and revised and crossed out again and revised.  Eventually it all comes together but maybe not as timely as we would like, but it still comes together.

The challenges and risks are what draw a select group of people to live off the land.  It is not for the faint of heart or for those who enjoy security and a steady paycheck.  Digging in the dirt requires tenacity, strength, and a whole lot of faith. 

Yesterday we banked on a whole lot of faith because we wanted to see more dirt and proceeded to till another large piece of ground.  A place for the 2011 tomato crop, a place of hope, and a place for a lot more work! 

In the Ellie Garden are onions, lettuces, greens, and peas.  Planted on a sunny, warm day the first part of April, but due to the extreme cold conditions, only now just sprouting and beginning their journey to your table.  Slow, very slow and as I said above - farming is not for the faint of heart.